For years, advocates have pushed for Michigan to allow undocumented immigrants to obtain driver’s licenses.
That effort failed once more, despite the Democratic trifecta of state government control.
Advocates are disappointed that state Democratic lawmakers failed to pass the legislation in their final days of total control.
“We’re devastated,” said Yvonne Navarrete, policy director for We the People Michigan. “There’s just been years of efforts from undocumented organizers and from our nonprofit coalition, and for all of that effort to not come to fruition in the final moments due to lack of leadership and lack of organization amongst the Democratic Party, it’s disappointing.”
The Drive SAFE (Safety, Access, Freedom, and Economy) legislation would have allowed Michigan residents to obtain driver’s licenses despite their inability to demonstrate legal residency in the United States. Prior to 2008, the state allowed it.
Democratic lawmakers have introduced similar legislation for the past eight years with no success. If there was ever a good chance of the bills passing, it was during the most recent term, when Democrats held the governorship and narrow majorities in the state House and Senate.
Republicans will take control of the House next year.
Even though Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer had previously supported similar legislation, the bills died this year without ever being heard in committee.
“I think what’s clear is that leadership has seen the driver’s license bill as too controversial for the entirety of the term,” Navarrete told the audience.
“It was always going to be an uphill battle. It is clear that leadership lacks the political will to stand up for working-class Michiganders. They failed a lot of people because they couldn’t pull it together.”
One of the Drive SAFE bill sponsors, state Rep. Rachel Hood (D-Grand Rapids), previously told MLive that the bill package once had enough committed support from the Democratic majority to pass the House.
However, some of those key votes in the Democrats’ majority shifted after the Nov. 5 election, with Hood claiming that one Democratic representative who lost their seat in the election reversed their support with the goal of reclaiming it by 2026.
Proponents claim the measure would lower insurance rates, ensure that those behind the wheel are qualified, and allow all Michigan residents to drive to work, take their children to school, go grocery shopping, and perform other daily tasks without fear of deportation or jail time.
The efforts gained urgency after November 5, when President-elect Donald Trump promised to conduct mass deportations of undocumented immigrants when he takes office next year.
An undocumented immigrant with a driver’s license can be identified and ticketed by law enforcement if he or she is stopped for a traffic violation.
However, driving without a license is a misdemeanor.
“That can put folks onto a path to being deported since they’re now being identified as breaking the law,” says Navarrete. “So being able to drive with the assurance that if you are stopped by police, you have that extra layer of security would have been and will be a huge relief when we are able to restore that for our community. It is not complete protection against deportation.”
Democrats will no longer control the House next year, as Republicans won a majority on November 5. Democrats will continue to hold the governorship and a Senate majority.
Democrats’ control of the House came to an end this month, when the chamber’s final week of business ended without any bills being voted on due to attendance issues caused by Republicans and a rogue Democratic representative.
“The Democratic leadership and Democratic Party are making it really difficult for folks who organize in our community, especially around elections, to give our communities something to galvanize for,” Navarrete told the newspaper. “The end of the lame duck session and the legislature only adds to it. How can we get people excited about candidates who, despite our best efforts to get them elected, disappoint and let us down? It’s understandable that communities across the state are currently feeling betrayed by the Democratic Party.
Another Drive SAFE bill sponsor, House Majority Floor Leader Abraham Aiyash, D-Hamtramck, previously stated that “cowardice” and those who choose to incite hatred were the only reasons the legislation was not passed.
“There is no compelling reason not to pass this legislation. “Zero,” Aiyash said at a December rally in support of the legislation. “There’s no economic argument. There is no public safety argument. The only reason for the delay in this argument is cowardice.”
While hundreds of bills that died without a final vote this year, owing in part to the House’s implosion, can be reintroduced next year and possibly approved with bipartisan support, the Drive SAFE legislation is unlikely to be among them.
In November, Republican House Minority Leader Matt Hall, who will become House Speaker next month, urged Democratic leadership not to move forward with the bills in light of a fatal pedestrian crash in Rochester Hills involving an undocumented driver.
The Michigan House Republican Caucus was also against the bills.
While the Drive SAFE package may be reintroduced next session, Navarrete said organizers are primarily focused on the 2026 elections, which will see all House and Senate seats in the state up for grabs, as well as the governorship.
“We need people in our legislature that actually have the courage to get things done,” she told the crowd.
